~ Yes, there are severe storms in the Old Dominion!

An October sunset "chase"

A convective line did come through the Roanoke valley Thursday evening (10/17) but the action was too little and too late. I was able to sit at a local perch and watch as the low level scud and the mid level clouds scooted in different directions (from the south and from the west respectively), proving that there was wind shear available. But as noted in the prior blogpost instability was almost nil so the updrafts were rather tame. I did snap this photo of the approaching line after sunset looking southwest:

If there were any low level features under the cloud base it was too dark to see by the time this line rolled over the valley and my backyard rain gauge only registered 0.02″ from a brief downpour. Overall there wasn’t much to see but then again, I didn’t expect much either. Is that it for 2013 or will there be one more chase in the books? Time to wait and see…